Interaction between ALDH2*1*1 and DRD2/ANKK1 TaqI A1A1 genes may be associated with antisocial personality disorder not co‐morbid with alcoholism

Abstract

Previous studies on acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) focused on drinking behavior or alcoholism because the ALDH2*2 allele protects against the risk of developing alcoholism. The mechanism provides that the ALDH2 gene's protective effect is also involved in dopamine metabolism. The interaction of the ALDH2 gene with neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, is suggested to be related to alcoholism. Because alcoholism is often co-morbid with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), previous association studies on antisocial alcoholism cannot differentiate whether those genes relate to ASPD with alcoholism or ASPD only. This study examined the influence of the interaction effect of the ALDH2*1*1, *1*2 or *2*2 polymorphisms with the dopamine 2 receptor (DRD2) Taq I polymorphism on ASPD. Our 541 Han Chinese male participants were classified into three groups: antisocial alcoholism (ASPD co-morbid with alcohol dependence, antisocial ALC; n = 133), ASPD without alcoholism (ASPD not co-morbid with alcohol dependence, antisocial non-ALC; n = 164) and community controls (healthy volunteers from the community; n = 244). Compared with healthy controls, individuals with the DRD2 A1/A1 and the ALDH2*1/*1 genotypes were at a 5.39 times greater risk for antisocial non-ALC than were those with other genotypes. Our results suggest that the DRD2/ANKK1 and ALDH2 genes interacted in the antisocial non-ALC group; a connection neglected in previous studies caused by not separating antisocial ALC from ASPD. Our study made this distinction and showed that these two genes may be associated ASPD without co-morbid alcoholism.

Interaction between Serotonin Transporter and Serotonin Receptor 1 B genes polymorphisms may be associated with antisocial alcoholism

“…Our past study [66] showed that antisocial alcoholics and antisocial non-alcoholics shared a similar genetic vulnerability of dopamine-related genes, which was different from healthy controls. However, in the present study, we did not find the same distributions of the 5-HTTLPR and 5-HT1B genes in the three groups.…”

Mesocorticolimbic dopamine functioning in primary psychopathy: A source of within-group heterogeneity

“…In agreement, A1-allele carriers display higher levels of childhood antisocial behavior, bipolar disorder with low anxiety, impulsivity, novelty/stimulus seeking, aggression, antisocial/borderline traits, faster habituation to positive feedback (decoupling behavior from experience), and substance abuse/dependence but also adaptive traits such as extraversion, behavioral activation, low depression or harm avoidance, and improved cognitive performance (Noble et al, 1998;Bartrés-Faz et al, 2002;Eisenberg et al, 2007;Hoenicka et al, 2007;Ponce et al, 2008 ;Althaus et al, 2009;Esposito-Smythers et al, 2009;Ponce et al, 2009;Barskiĭ et al, 2010;Nemoda et al, 2010;Smillie et al, 2010;Stelzel et al, 2010;Thaler et al, 2012;Kazantseva et al, 2011;Lu et al, 2012;Zai et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2013aWang et al, , 2014. A1-carriers also showed significantly lower levels of risk for depression and higher engagement bias towards positive social stimuli, thus evincing a more stable and higher DA functioning (Elovainio et al, 2007;Gong et al, 2013).…”

Association of COL25A1 with Comorbid Antisocial Personality Disorder and Substance Dependence

“…People with an antisocial or alcoholic parent are at increased risk of ASPD, and people with ASPD have higher rates of alcohol dependence and more alcohol-related problems than people without ASPD(6). The prevalence of ASPD and other adult antisocial behaviors among individuals with alcohol use disorders ranges from 20–33%(7, 8). The combination of alcoholism and ASPD may lead to greater frontal brain deficits than the sum of each(9).…”

“…A functional polymorphism in the MAOA gene can moderate the effect of maltreatment; and maltreated children with a genotype conferring high levels of MAOA expression were less likely to develop antisocial problems(13). A few other gene polymorphisms (i.e, COMT val/met variant(14), 5-HTTLPR(15), and 5-HTTVNTR(16)) and gene interactions (i.e., ALDH2 *1*1 (glu504ly) and ANKK1 rs1800497(8)) have also been reported to be associated with ASPD(5). However, our understanding of the genetic contributions to ASPD remains limited.…”